Forcible Transfer is a War Crime: 25 UK Parliamentarians join over 300 public figures in condemning Israel's plans to demolish and forcibly transfer Khan al Ahmar

Posted by on 12 Jun 2018

25 British Parliamentarians are signatories to an open letter published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, calling forcible transfer a war crime, and condemning Israel's plans to demolish and forcibly transfer the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar.

The cross party group of parliamentary signatories include Caabu Chair, Rt Hon David Jones MP (Conservative), Caabu board members Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP (Liberal Democrat) and Paula Sherriff MP (Labour) and Caabu Patrons Lord Peter Hain (Labour), Lord David Steel of Aikwood (Liberal Democrat) and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi (Conservative). It also includes many parliamentarians who have been on Caabu delegations to Palestine.

The imminent demolition and forcible transfer of the Khan al-Ahmar community, if carried out, will be a war crime. The responsibility for this war crime lies with top Israeli officials, including the prime minister and defense minister, as well as the High Court justices who recently enabled the commission of this crime. Khan al-Ahmar is but one pressing and extreme example of a much bigger Israeli strategy: for decades Israel has been implementing a policy designed to diminish Palestinian presence in certain areas of the West Bank by creating a coercive environment for the thousands of Palestinians living there; the demolition of an entire village would be a dramatic escalation of that policy.